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Drakengard
Drakengard, known in Japan as Drag-On Dragoon, is a PlayStation 2 role playing game developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix and Take Two Interactive. The game's theme revolves around pacts, as most characters initiate a pact with other entities to gain certain abilities, and must pay the price of the pact in return. __TOC__ Developer commentary According to his comments within a [http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/623/623397/index-4.html Dengeki Online interview], Taro Yoko answers how the game's general concept was spontaneously conceptualized between Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki during a night out at the bar. Since there were members of Cavia who worked on Ace Combat, Iwasaki pitched the idea of making a dragon flight simulator. Originally, Drakengard was going to be centered on just this aspect. However, Dynasty Warriors 2 came out during Drakengard's development and became a popular hit in Japan. Shiba then pushed to include this title's gameplay into their project. His decision to do so surprised Yoko. During the earliest stages of development, Iwasaki and Shiba had no experience writing stories and were mainly driven to have as many game mechanics and content as possible over creative issues. Writing the narrative and setting was Yoko's job. In another part of [http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/000/623/623506/index-7.html the Dengeki Online interview], Yoko confesses that he became director only because Iwasaki was too busy with other projects at the time. Yoko was originally planned to be the art director, but his artwork didn't impress the team to be used. Even so, Yoko considers Iwasaki the "true father" of the series since he pushed for the project's completion the most. Back then, Yoko lacked confidence to go through with his crazier story ideas and consoled with Yosuke Saito (who would later be Nier's producer). Saito was interested in making Yoko's story concepts into a game. That year, he recorded all the materials currently made onto a camcorder, flew to that year's E3 show, and pitched the game concept at the Sony booth. In the busy crowds of E3, the personnel couldn't see everything, gave up, and gave their okay for the game. Saito was told, "You can go home now." According to his comments in this Famitsu livestream, Cavia was originally commissioned by Enix to do Drakengard and were given free creative reign. Midway through development, the company merger with Square occurred and Square executives began overseeing production. He says the Square executives were displeased with practically everything in Drakengard and wanted them to rebuild the entire game from the ground up. Thanks to Saito's mediations ("and bribery," Yoko jokes), much of the world remained intact. Yoko would later cite and thank Saito as the main reason why Drakengard and anything past it for Yoko ever came into existence. One particular example Yoko named was how executives kept pressuring him to have a blue sky for natural realism. He strongly resisted them multiple times as he sought to keep the landscape surreal and dreary for the game's tone. Cavia was also severely undermanned for Drakengard's development process. Yoko wanted to present the game on two discs. They were rushed by Square-Enix to finish it within their deadline on one disc, a decision which still upsets Yoko to this day. He reveals later that a jump feature was originally in the game but was too buggy for the programmers to fix; it had to be removed due to time constraints. Many of the characters' odd quirks and personalities were conceptualized by him for the sake of originality. Yoko felt Drakengard wouldn't stand a chance against Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy if the characters were normal. He is personally surprised to learn that the characters have stood the test of time in people's memories and had no idea the game has a fanbase. Although the game is infamous for its multiple "bad" endings with fans, Yoko doesn't feel the same way. He made them with the intents to present unexpected and painful experiences for the playable cast. Yet the B ending represents his opinion for fetishism regarding the superficial "idealistic younger sister". At the time, Sister Princess was the prime source of his ire; he doesn't like the current title which represents this idealism, Oreimo. In his eyes, Furiae and her many monstrous clones in this ending represent how shallow and heartless these sister characters are in fiction. The E ending (Tokyo ending) and its dramatic gameplay change were added by him and a small group of developers to be a "surprise joke" for players –following a similar train of thought as the UFO endings in Silent Hill. The ending wasn't shown to the entire team until the very end of development; Shiba hated it once he saw it. Yoko became quite fond of the reaction it had on the team and players, and it was one of the reasons why it was revisited again for Drakengard's alternate continuity, Nier. He adds that the phrase used for this ending is "a rip-off" of The End of Evangelion, which is a series he considers a spiritual inspiration of sorts for Drakengard's gloominess. Years later, in an interview with GameInformer, Yoko reveals that the original, rejected plan for Ending E consisted of the player battling a giant version of J-pop idol Ayumi Hamasaki in a singing competition to decide the fate of the world. Gameplay Drakengard features three basic gameplay types: ground missions, aerial missions, and Free Expedition Mode. The ground missions, where the player and their party run on foot attacking enemies, have often been compared to the hack and slash gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series. In the less-common aerial missions the player flies on the back of a dragon destroying enemy fortresses in mid-air, which was repeatedly compared to Panzer Dragoon Orta by reviewers. In Free Expedition Mode the player can jump on and off the dragon for a combination of both playing styles. It also has two difficulty modes, Easy and Normal. In Drakengard the dragon gains greater attack power as it gains experience and levels up. At certain points of the story the dragon evolves into a different, more powerful form, which enhances the dragons attack powers, magical attacks and allows to lock on to more enemies. Drakengard is divided into chapters and subdivided into verses. Missions numbered with Roman numerals lead to endings other than the one merited in Chapter 8, and can only be played if the player meets certain requirements. Because the player can to go back to an earlier chapter or verse at almost any point in the game, the player does not need to erase the game and start over to try and achieve a specific ending. The game has four additional alternate endings. Each of these endings, along with the canonical ending, are achieved by certain events in the game. Plot 'Setting' Drakengard takes place in a world named Midgard. It is protected from the Watchers by the four seals; the seal of the ocean, the seal of the desert, the seal of the forest and the seal of the Goddess herself. However, the Cult of the Watchers had gained control of the Empire, and is seeking to destroy the seals in order to invoke the Watchers into the world. 'Characters' Playable Non-playable 'Story' The game begins with Caim and the Union fighting a battle against the Empire. During the battle, Caim is mortally wounded, but comes across a red dragon, chained to the ground by Imperial forces. Although neither Caim nor the dragon are fond of each other, Caim proposes that they make a pact to save both their lives, as they share a mutual need to live on. As a result of the pact, Caim loses his voice, rendering him mute and causing a pact emblem to appear on his tongue. Caim and his pact partner soar into the sky with newfound power, obliterating the Empire's air force and disposing of the rest of their infantry. Caim and the dragon regroup with his sister Furiae, the goddess of the seals; and Inuart, Caim's childhood friend and talented musician. Inuart proposes that they seek asylum in the elf village near the Seal of the Forest. Without protests or delay, they head off, only to find the village invaded and the seal destroyed. Hierarch Verdelet, guardian of the seals, speaks through the dragon, pleading with the group to bring the goddess to the temple that holds the Seal of the Desert. Caim learns from a dying elf, that hostages have been taken by cultists to the Shrine of the Watchers. Caim sets off to rescue them, as Inuart takes Furiae to the desert temple. Caim fights through the shrine, only to find that the kidnapped elves have been taken elsewhere. Later, within the Valley of the Faeries, Caim meets Leonard, who joins him as an ally. The dragon reveals that Inuart and Verdelet have been captured, so the group quickly set off to the Seal of the Desert. Arriving at the desert, Caim finds Furiae safe, but realises that Inuart and Verdelet have been taken as prisoners. Caim heads to the Imperial Prison to rescue them, succeeding only in finding Verdelet, and learning that Inuart has been taken someplace else. They return to the desert, only to find the seal broken. The group then finds Arioch, an elf driven to insanity after witnessing the death of her family by the Empire. Shorty prior to their meeting, Arioch seals a pact with Undine and Salamander, her pact price being her ability to conceive. After Arioch joins the party, Inuart appears, having sealed a pact with a black dragon — the same one that murdered Caim's parents in the past. Inuart demands that Caim allow him to free Furiae by bringing her to the Empire. Instead, Caim engages Inuart in a brief fight, where Inuart defeats Caim and kidnaps Furiae. Caim, realising his duty, delays the rescue of his sister to reach the Seal of the Ocean, only to find the seal destroyed. Verdelet explains that destroying all seals will scatter "Seeds of Destruction" throughout the world, capable of creating a legion of murderous monsters from one human corpse. The party arrive at the Imperial Lands and find a young orphan boy by the name of Seere, who explains that his sister was taken by the Empire and pleads to join the group. It is then revealed that he also sealed a pact, a pact with a golem in sacrifice for his "time" or ability to age. The entire group join the final battle between the Union and the Empire, resulting in the latter's defeat. Celebrations are short-lived, however, as the sky turns black and an unsettling evil arises. 'Endings' A= the Anguish of an unsmiling Watcher Caim and the dragon succeed in stopping Manah, High Priestess of the Watchers and Seere's sister, and sealing her powers. Manah begs Caim and Verdelet to kill her, but they coldly push her aside, the red dragon stating that Manah must suffer for the crimes she has commited. The dragon volunteers to become the new seal, shocking Caim and Verdelet. As Verdelet performs the rite, the dragon sees Caim cry for the first time. She tells him her name—Angelus—before bidding farewell and disappearing. |-|B= flowers for the Broken spirit After Furiae's death, Inuart takes her dead body and tries to resurrect her with a Seed of Destruction. She comes back to life as a monster with god-like powers and wings. She kills Inuart and engages Caim in battle. After a long and grueling aerial fight, Caim succeeds in defeating his reborn sister. Standing atop a destroyed building, carrying Furiae's remains, Caim gazes upon the landscape as a myriad of monsters rise from the seeds—a myriad of the same monster he holds in his arms. |-|C= a Companion's eternal farewell Manah, out of desperation and realization that all is lost, attempts to summon a dragon; instead of obeying her, the dragon consumes her. Angelus, now a Chaos Dragon, breaks the pact between herself and Caim. Although Angelus still has respect and love towards Caim, she knows that they must fight for the rising dragons plan on destroying humanity and taking over the world. Caim manages to defeat her, but hears more dragons coming his way. Resolute, Caim runs outside full speed to battle until his final breath. |-|D= the wild dreams of a Deluded child After running out of options, Seere's pact partner Golem kills Manah. As a result, the infant-like grotesqueries descend fron the sky, consuming and destroying everything in sight. Arioch becomes obsessed with the image of children and runs towards them as they crush and consume her. Leonard sacrifices himself to blow a path clear for Angelus, Caim and Seere. Soon after, the queen-beast rises from the ground. Angelus and Caim desperately weigh out their limited options, finally deciding on what must be done. Seere, with his significant pact sacrifice, has the ability to stop time, at the cost of his life. Caim, Angelus and Seere fly towards the queen-beast, dropping Seere onto her. Angelus and Caim, having achieved their final task, are killed by the overwhelming grotesqueries. Finally, Seere asks his sister to forgive him as he releases bursts of light from his body as black fume surrounds him, covering the queen-beast and grotesqueries, forever frozen in time. |-|E= the End of the dragon sphere Caim and Angelus travel across a dimensional boundary to fight the Queen Grotesquerie, and in a strange twist end up flying over modern-era Tokyo, Japan. After defeating the queen-beast in an unusual battle, Angelus states, "It is done, at last", before the pair are shot down by a pair of fighter jets when finally a radio transmission is heard, "This is Bravo 1, unidentified target has been neutralised. Over and out". The final credits roll silently as the sounds of a typical urban area in Tokyo is heard, the end of which scrolls down to a dead Angelus impaled onto Tokyo Tower. This ending leads to the events of NieR. Theme song *Growing Wings (English) / Tsukiru (Japanese) Packaging Artwork File:Drakengard_-_Japan_Box_Art.png|''DRAG-ON DRAGOON'' Square Enix Japan: 9/11/2003 File:Drakengard_-_US_Box_Art.png|''Drakengard'' Square Enix North America: 3/05/2004 File:Drakengard_-_PAL_Box_Art.png|''Drakengard'' Square Enix Europe: 5/21/2004 Gallery File:Caim & Angelus.jpg|Caim and Angelus Seere & Golem.jpg|Seere and Golem. Lenoard & Fairy.jpg|Leonard and Faerie. File:Drag-On-Dragoon.jpg Trivia *Scarface, the Japanese callsign of the pilot in Ending E, is commonly associated with one of the protagonists in the Ace Combat series. The aircraft unlocked by completing the free mission unlocked by this ending is an Su-47 Berkut. *The series has a recurring trend of naming human characters after demons and non-human characters (usually dragons) after angels. *The title of Ending E is likely a reference to Project Dragonsphere, Drakengard's project name. Category:Games